harim choi

what does it mean to be christian at brown?

The first question many people ask me when they hear I’m a Christian is one I’ve also asked myself many times. I ask it most often on Sunday mornings, when my phone alarm rings at the unholy hour of 8:30 a.m. and I have yet again made the unwise decision of allowing myself only five…

In Praise of Kaveh Akbar’s Book of Poetry, Calling a Wolf a Wolf

Whenever I write in my journal and try to pin down the thoughts swirling around in my head, I realize that the different parts of my mind are messy and extremely hard to map. I’m certain this is true for all us—we’re made up of warring passions, emotions, opinions, and beliefs that push constantly against…

excavating Taylor Swift’s priviledge

If I had bought into Taylor Swift’s rhetoric, the one that pervades “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story,” I may not have hemmed my skirts so short. I would probably still think that if I sat around waiting long enough, some douchey high school senior with a bunch of roses would save me…

“it’s fine, it’s fine”

Art Room 004 smelled. It had two distinct funks: weed and Febreze Air Effects (strawberry and fig), sprayed indiscriminately by Noah in the hopes of covering up the smell of weed. It was 8:15 a.m. and the air already stank of summer fruits. Sam, second only to Noah as the highest and least productive art student in…

BEAM and the Bubble

Freshman year, I didn’t get out much. Before you start assuming I was a shy, introverted hermit who never socialized with my peers, I mean getting out more in the metaphorical sense—the metaphor being the “college bubble.” As adventurous and exploratory as I thought I would be upon coming to college, in reality, I rarely…